Press Releases & Media Infos

A new report from German environmental and human rights NGO Urgewald exposes how major financial institutions continue to bankroll the expansion of metallurgical coal (“met coal”), despite global coal phase-out commitments.

Three weeks before world leaders gather for COP 30 in Belém, Urgewald and 48 NGO partners released the 2025 “Global Coal Exit List” (GCEL). GCEL is the most comprehensive public database of companies operating across the global thermal coal value chain, covering more than 1,500 parent companies and 1,400 subsidiaries. Currently, 669 financial institutions from 31 countries use GCEL to monitor and restrict financing for the thermal coal industry.

A joint report by the Environmental Rights Foundation (ERF), the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Ecodefense, and Urgewald revealed that Taiwan became the world’s largest importer of Russian naphtha in the first half of 2025, and has sent USD 1.7 billion in tax revenue to Putin’s war chest. Following extensive coverage by international media and strong coordination and support from legislators Puma Shen and Chen Kuan-Ting, on 9 October, Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin told the press that “FPCC’s relevant contracts are about to expire, and after communication, FPCC has agreed not to purchase Russian naphtha in the future.”

Five weeks before the UN Climate Summit in Belém, a new report maps the frontiers and the financiers of fossil fuel expansion across Latin America and the Caribbean. The report is published by Urgewald (Germany), Arayara International Institute (Brazil), FARN (Argentina), Conexiones Climáticas (Mexico), and Amazon Watch (US/Peru/Ecuador). The release is accompanied by an online fossil fuel expansion monitor and a finance dashboard. 

Big banks are providing more than twice as much finance for fossil fuels as for sustainable sources, according to new analysis published today by Reclaim Finance, Urgewald and partners, comparing for the first time finance for fossil fuels with finance for sustainable power. The analysis shows that the big German banks are not on track when it comes to financing the energy transition. Reclaim Finance and Urgewald are urging the banks to set targets for reducing their financing for fossil fuels, with an immediate end to all support for fossil fuel expansion, while significantly increasing finance for sustainable alternatives, particularly in the power sector. 

Urgewald is among the first endorsers of a petition urging the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank Group (WBG) to uphold their decades-long stance against financing nuclear power. The WBG President Ajay Banga officially changed course on June 10, while ADB is currently reviewing its energy policy, with strong indications it will open the door to nuclear projects as well.